1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin6. 1984, by George Orwell7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov (Only two of three, though)
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan (Excepting New Spring and the last three volumes)13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson54. World War Z, by Max Brooks (Overrated.)
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

32 out of 100. Not giving myself credit for Verne, or Wells, which entries I've read, but only greatly abridged. Nor for one or two others I've only read excerpts of. Anathem I've got but haven't managed to sit down and read, yet.

Honestly, I found World War Z a bit tiresome. I didn't care for the format, but I also wasn't particularly persuaded by Brooks' ... interesting grasp of firearms. That aside, it's okay.

I think The Road is also fairly overrated, and I'm not sure it really qualifies for a list of science fiction. It sure was damned depressing, though.

Regarding the Foundation trilogy, I gave up early in Second Foundation. I think I was still in middle school at the time, so other than being bored, I couldn't tell you why.
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"I'll add a hardcopy [of Declare] to my next Amazon order[.]" Or at least I would do, except it seems to be out of print, and I don't feel like fooling with second hand books this evening. Still, good book. I recommend you check it out.

Also found some place selling Delta Green, which is supposed to be a modern military setting for the Call of Cthulhu game. So, I blew some money on that, too.0

Now, I'm going to try and behave myself until at least May.

Footnote:0. I don't really have a good reason for why. I think it's unlikely I'll ever do more than read them.
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O fish, are you constant to the old covenant?

2011.03.23 02:19 - Entertainment, Books, Microcode

I finished reading Declare, by Tim Powers, a little bit ago, which has been an interesting experience for multiple reasons.

For starters, I read nearly the whole thing on my phone, having purchased the Kindle version. I don't think I'll do that again, right away. Spending hours staring at the screen of my phone seems to be a sure-fire recipe for eyestrain, though it's otherwise an okay experience. I'm quite sure I still prefer paper, on the whole, but I suspect a Kindle device is in my future sometime in the next year or so.

Declare, itself, is an excellent novel and I recommend it. No guarantees you'll enjoy it, but I did. Especially if you've read Charles Stross' The Atrocity Archives, if only for the contrast between the two. I suspect I'll add a hardcopy of this book to my next Amazon order, in case I wish to lend it out.
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I've read Monster Hunter Vendetta, am most of the way through Unseen Academicals, watched a movie or two, eaten some turkey, and have otherwise been a little too shelled from work to devote much time to life outside my head.

Two and a half more weeks to the end of the year, for me. I think I owe my employer two-hundred-odd unit tests and some additional code in the meantime, though.

I really don't follow this stuff very closely, and what's going on here is one reason why. Karen Traviss has been writing novels in the Star Wars universe centered around some characters that are clone soldiers and a handful of Mandalorians, either referencing or creating a lot of stuff concerning the previously established warrior culture of the Mandalorians. I've read a few of these, because they've crossed over nicely into the sub-genre of military sci-fi that I've recently found myself enjoying, and because I do still like the Star Wars universe, despite the fact that it is often so shoddily and inconsistently constructed. So, I've got two or three of the Republic Commando novels on my bookshelf, and I'll probably pick up the couple of novels following those characters at some point.

Traviss has decided not to write this last book because, among other reasons, the Mandalorians are being retconned into pacifists during the movie time period, which presents certain existential difficulties for many of her key characters.